Thursday, November 12, 2009

Booking Through Thursday

“Life is too short to read bad books.” I’d always heard that, but I still read books through until the end no matter how bad they were because I had this sense of obligation.

That is, until this week when I tried (really tried) to read a book that is utterly boring and unrealistic. I had to stop reading.

Do you read everything all the way through or do you feel life really is too short to read bad books?

Life is definitely too short for bad books. If something is keeping me going- I want to know how a character turns out, or a plot- I'll keep going. But I'm getting to the point where, even if I've promised a review, if I'm struggling badly I'll let the book go. Sometimes I do an "Unfinished Fridays" feature, where I'll talk about a book I didn't finish- generally those are books I promised to review that I couldn't get through. Otherwise if I don't finish a book it will never be mentioned on my blog.

13 comments:

Yes, I like your "Unfinished Fridays" feature - it's a nice idea. But it takes me so long just to write something about the books I actually finish, I'd never be able to come up with anything about all the ones I don't!

About ten years ago I stopped reading books where the effort felt like work. Reading is my greatest pleasure. My to-read pile topples on my nightstand. I'll never have enough hours to read all the books in this world that call to me. Thus, two chapters -- sometimes three -- and off it goes.

I like that you try to mention something you promised for review, even if you hated it. I haven't had a bad book to review yet (knock on wood) but I feel like I would have to finish it just because I said I would. Here's my answer: http://thecrowdedleaf.wordpress.com/2009/11/12/booking-through-thursday-november-12-2009.

I agree--I generally also don't review books I haven't finished, unless they've made me particularly angry at how bad they are. Most of the time, though, I would rather focus on what I like, and what I hope other people will enjoy.

If I get over 50-75 pages into a so/so book, usually I throw it out. A couple times I have pushed through and liked it, but I just figure that if it's not keeping my attention, there are thousands of others that will :)

I try my best to read through to the end no matter how bad it is. The reason? I feel I should read and let others know how bad it is. Also, sometimes I keep telling myself that it is only because I don't understand the book not that the book is bad and hope things would work out for me to understand. At other times I hope the character would change.

I abandoned my first reading of Gormenghast (Mervyn Peak). Then I took it a second time and it is one of my favourite books. That is to say I never understood it the first time I read it.

I have a friend who says that if there are 6 bn people on earth and 10% are creative writers then we would have 600m writers. Assuming that each produces 5 books in his/her lifetime there would be 3bn books to be read. Okay, so there is no need to wait and read bad books, is there??

I don't have a problem not finishing books, but I do try to give them a fair try before I give up.

What really interests me is whether or not bloggers mention these unfinished books. I do, partly because I like to have a record of what I read (or tried to read) in any given year, and partly because I think it gives blog readers a better understanding of your reading tastes when you include DNF books.

Although I've been getting better lately, I still have a hard time letting a bad book go. I really need to learn to be better about it because sticking to a bad book sometimes makes me very apathetic about reading in general, and I find myself looking for excuses when it comes time to read.